The Matthew C. Sel­l­itto Foun­da­tion recently awarded a grant of $100,000 to Wes­ley Col­lege. The dona­tion will be used as an endowed fund to pro­vide sup­port to under­priv­i­leged stu­dents from urban envi­ron­ments attend­ing Wes­ley College.

Sel­l­itto (9/30/77 – 9/11/01) was only 23 years old when his life was trag­i­cally cut short in the largest ter­ror­ist attack on Amer­i­can soil. His dream of work­ing in finance came true in Feb­ru­ary 2001, when he was hired by Can­tor Fitzger­ald, one of the world’s fore­most cap­i­tal mar­ket invest­ment banks. The com­pany loca­tion was the World Trade Cen­ter (Tower One) in New York City.

Choos­ing to focus on his life rather than his death, Sellitto’s many friends and fam­ily estab­lished the Matthew C. Sel­l­itto Foun­da­tion in 2002 to honor his life and con­tinue his legacy. While at Seton Hall Prep in West Orange, N.J., Sel­l­itto vol­un­teered with under­priv­i­leged stu­dents nearby. For many young peo­ple liv­ing in urban envi­ron­ments who lacked eco­nomic resources, Sel­l­itto stepped in to men­tor them in orderto unlock and encour­age their poten­tial. A per­son of faith in God and con­vic­tion to his prin­ci­ples, he believed strongly in giv­ing back. His deter­mi­na­tion to change lives con­tin­ues through the foundation.

“Matthew was an inspi­ra­tion to oth­ers, and we are priv­i­leged to con­tinue his legacy,” said Wes­ley Col­lege Pres­i­dent William N. Johnston.

Sellitto’s father, Matthew T. Sel­l­itto, grad­u­ated from Wes­ley Col­lege in 1967. The Col­lege played a sig­nif­i­cant role in his life, and con­se­quently, in the life of his fam­ily. He and his wife, Loreen Sel­l­itto, who both serve as vice pres­i­dents of the foun­da­tion, have con­fi­dence in Wesley’s abil­ity totrans­form lives in keep­ing with their son’s legacy.

“The work Wes­ley is doing exem­pli­fies the mis­sion of the foun­da­tion,” the Sel­l­it­tos added. In addi­tion to the sup­port of Wes­ley Col­lege, the Matthew C. Sel­l­itto Foun­da­tion is mak­ing addi­tional invest­ments to carry on Sellitto’s legacy. “It is an honor for our foun­da­tion to also sup­port the 9/11 Trib­ute Cen­ter and Fac­ing His­tory in pre­sent­ing a two-day pro­fes­sional work­shop to assist edu­ca­tors in devel­op­ing rel­e­vant units sur­round­ing the events of 9/11 and the impact of these events on our future,” said Loreen Sel­l­itto. “We see this not only as an oppor­tu­nity to honor the 9/11 vic­tims, first respon­ders, res­cue and recov­ery work­ers but also as a chance to inspire a call to ser­vice of indi­vid­u­als, busi­nesses, schools and organizations.”

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